Tag: terrible two

Donald Trump has changed the 2016 primaries in so
many ways. He has been like a deus ex
machina who popped up in an enormous list of GOP characters with little to
differentiate one from the next. He did not fit the mold but he was no more
acceptable to me than any other Republican.

I didn’t think I could be shocked after six years of
disrupters in Congress making ignorant suggestions to women that would set the
culture back 50 years if heeded. I was afraid when the Supreme Court did not
uphold the most essential section of the voting rights act, the requirement
that certain states get clearance before changing their voting laws, but still
I did not foresee how quickly the states would “celebrate” their “freedom” by
repressing votes. Watching states break the law in respect to Roe v Wade by
imposing bogus rules to close clinic after clinic seemed quite shocking enough,
especially when courts backed them up. I had expected the courts to say “whoa
Nellie” (because that’s the way these guys talk – remember the one who
recommended that women practice birth control by putting an aspirin between
their knees and keeping their knees closed around it). The courts did nothing. That’s
when I realized how many Conservative judges had been appointed to courts in
many of our states.

I could go on but my point is actually that Donald
Trump managed to drive my “no they didn’t” reaction up several more notches.
His remarks about Mexicans, about the “wall”, about China, deporting
undocumented immigrants, Megan Fox, about women in general, about Muslims –
well, you were there – you heard it. Then there was his apparent comfort with a
physicality that we usually avoid in American politics. We usually use our
words. His behavior made the shock waves of the Republican heresies over the past six
years pale by comparison.

As we know the other Republican candidates did not
seem any happier with Donald’s injection of himself into an already crowded
race. He had been a Democrat. Conservatives who had been making a big point
about GOP purity tests had to move over and include this famous person who had
certainly not been tested for purity. And he was winning, pulling large crowds,
taking up all the space on a 24/7 media that usually could be captured only
temporarily by a particularly audacious act. Ted Cruz had attempted frequent
newsworthy nonsense, but Donald did it practically nonstop.

However, Trump has also served as sort of a buffer
between the Democratic primary race and the rest of the Republican slate,
getting picked off one by one before our incredulous eyes. We expected to worry
about Scott Walker and Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush, but instead every eye and ear was
on Donald. For the most part, Hillary and Bernie were left alone to run their
own race.

Trump’s presence in the race has also allowed Ted
Cruz to take up the second position on the GOP side. He expects an open
convention and he expects the coveted Republican nomination to eventually fall
to him. I have watched Ted Cruz throughout the Obama administration and he made
me very worried right from the first time I set eyes on him. In fact I wrote an
article called Ted Cruz: Sinister or Cartoonish about my initial observations.
I have predicted to myself that somehow he would “worm” his way into the White
House and I have tried to speak out against this whenever possible. He is
closer to the White House than he has ever been. He is intelligent, if
inflexible, and he is strategic. He believes he is a genius. As geniuses go I can think of several I would prefer over him.

If Donald had not inserted himself into the primary
would Cruz have made it this far? I don’t know, of course, no one does. But if
I end up with Ted Cruz as my President in 2017, I will blame Donald. Who will I
blame if we end up with Donald Trump in the White House? I will blame the
Democrats. Hillary, there is a lot resting on your shoulders because if you win
the nomination we are counting on you to beat the chosen one of these two guys
and Donald has sort of fogged up everyone’s view. Ted Cruz is advancing almost
under the radar, a stealth campaign.